Improvement in fly-fans



J. G. SOHWTEMMER AND T. MUELLER,

TCE.

OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MPROVEM ENT IN FLY-FANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent NO. 58,683, dated October9, 1866.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, J oHN G. SGHWEMMER and THEoDoRE lVIUELLEn, bothofthe city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented anew and useful apparatus for driving oft iiies and other insects frommeat or provisions exposed for sale in market-houses, which apparatus wehave termed a fly-fan 5 and we hereby declare the following to be a fulland exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of our invention consists in arranging a series of iiaps orbrushes proximate to the meat, 85e ,exposed on hooks or shelves, and inimparting to these flaps a peculiar beating motion, by means of deviceshereinafter fully described, for which the required motive force may beobtained from powerful clock-work driven by springs or weights, or fromany other convenient source of power.

An important feature of our invention consists in so arranging theseflaps relative to their mountings that any one of them may be readilydisconnected and removed for the purpose of gaining access to thearticles plact d behind the same, and afterward be easily replaced.

In order th at our said invention may be fully understood, we will nowproceed more particularly to describe the same.

Upon reference to the drawings making part of this specification, and inwhich similarI letters of reference allude to like parts throughout theseveral views, Figure l is an elevation of a stall with our improvedapparatus attached, the front of the lower part of the stall beingremoved to represent more clearly the mechanism placed inside. One ofthe iaps is also detached. Fig. 2 is an end view of the. stall andmechanism, and Fig. 3 is an end section thereof.

The iiaps A A, secured to long bars c c, can be constructed in variousways. Theymay consist of a number of cords, strung like fringe upon thebar a. They may be made of broom-corn, or be composed of coarse nettingstretched upon a light frame fastened to the bars c.

B B are beltcranks, having their fulcrums in brackets C C, projectingfrom the uprights D D', which posts form part of the ordinary frame-workof the stall, to which are attached the hooks b b, for suspending thearticles for sale. Each set of bell-cranks (of which there are threerepresented on each post) have their short arms connected by links c c.Their long arms have hook-shaped ends d d, in which are suspended thebars a c of the flaps.

The manner of actuating the bell-cranks, and through them the flaps A A,is as follows: At the side of post D is provided a verticallyslidingrod, E, guided at both ends in bearA ings d' d. This rod has near itsupper end a sideward projection, e, and in this is a vertical set-screw,f. The lowest, B', of the three bell-cranks on post D has its horizontalarm g, Fig. 2, extended beyond the joint of link o, and upon thisextension bears the above-mentioned'serewf on sliding rod E. This rodhas two rectangular bends beneath the table F of the stall, and is aboveits lower bearing, d', provided with an adjustable arm, li. This arm isactuated by a revolving cam, G, in a manner imparting a downwardmovement to rod E, which movement is suddenly reversed by a spiralspring, H, at the top when the point of cam` G passes the projection iof arm h, on which it bears to depress the rod E. This downward movementof E causes the set-screw f to depress the arm g of bell-crank B untilall the flaps, being connected by links c c, occupy the position shownin Fig. 3.

Upon the described release ofthe rod E from cam Gr this movement isreversed, and by means of thetension of spiral spring H the aps aresuddenly thrown back toward the articles from which the insects are tobe beaten. These movements are repeated with every revolution of cam Gr.

The source of power represented in the drawings consists of a strongclock-spring, I, giving motion to the shaft of cam Gr through a train ofwheels and pinions, 1, 2, 3, and 4.

5 is a regulator, driven by wheel 6 and pinion 7, and J is a slidingstop, provided for arresting the motion by sliding it in the direc; tionto bring it in contact with the regulator.-

It will be readily seen that any of the aps A A may be lifted from theirrespective hooks in the bell-cranks B B', for the purpose of making thearticles protected by them readily accessible, but although we have inthe above description explained no other means of accomplishing thisobject, it must be evident that there are various equivalent means of sodoing, one of which would be to suspend the aps and their mechanism in aframe swinging upon hinges at the side of post D'in such a manner thatthe Whole maybe turned about on these hinges to expose the goods Withoutdetaching the mechanism in any of its parts.

We do not broadly claim the use of flaps actuated by clock-Work or othermechanism for the purpose of keeping oft' insects; but

Vhat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

JOHN G. SCHWEMMER. THEODORE MUELLER'.

Witnesses THnoDoRE BERGNER, Guns. E. PANCoAsT.

